Introduction Wwft

Laws and regulations
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The Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wet ter voorkoming van witwassen en financieren van terrorisme – Wwft) entered into force on 1 August 2008. The Wwft provides a comprehensive set of measures to prevent the use of the financial system for money laundering or terrorist financing. The Wwft was changed in 2020 in order to implement the EU’s changed Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Published: 26 January 2021

Risk-based approach and open standards

The Wwft follows a risk-based approach. This means that institutions to a large extent are free to decide on the degree of risk they want to take. In turn, that choice determines which mitigation measures they must put into place.

Customer due diligence

Customer due diligence is an important element in the range of measures available to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. As a rule, institutions must carry out customer due diligence in all cases. This also includes the monitoring of intended and actual transactions. The degree of scrutiny must be tailored to the risk posed by a particular type of customer, relationship, product or transaction.

Notification duty

Financial and other institutions that, in a professional capacity or on a commercial basis, provide services specifically listed in the Wwft must notify any unusual transactions to FIU-the Netherlands. The Wwft also lists indicators to determine what unusual transactions exactly are.

Supervision of compliance with the Wwft

DNB is responsible for supervising Wwft compliance by various categories of financial institutions, including banks. In our supervision, we look at the procedures and measures that institutions have put into place to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

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